Andrea Chiesa

Andrea Chiesa

6/5/1964

A Swiss national born in Milan, Chiesa made a solid start in Italian F3 in 1986, but was hampered by problems with his VW engine. For 1987 he was well prepared, surging out of the blocks with three wins in the first four races, but his season then tailed off and Enrico Bertaggia pipped him to the title. Stepping up to F3000, Chiesa struggled in 1988, notching just a single point, but things improved the following year, Andrea winning at Enna and finishing second at Vallelunga to claim sixth place in the final points standings.

His third season in the formula, with Paul Stewart Racing, was much the same and he managed seventh in the final table, but his fourth, in 1991, was an utter disaster, Chiesa failing to score even a point with a competitive Reynard. But such are the vagaries of motor racing that when the Formula 1 team line-ups were confirmed for 1992, Andrea was confirmed at Fondmetal. He was out of his depth and his record of three starts (two spins, one collision) and seven DNQs tells the sorry tale. For Chiesa the F1 dream was over, but he briefly reappeared in 1993, racing in the opening round of the Indy Car series in Surfers Paradise, Australia.

After three years away from the sport Chiesa briefly returned to the track in a Riley & Scott with Alex Caffi at Laguna Seca in 1996. The partnership was successfully renewed in 1998 when the pair scored a couple of third places in the ISRS series at the Paul Ricard and Le Mans (Bugatti) rounds. In recent years (most recently 2003) Andrea has raced a Porsche in the FIA GT Championship.